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Soloing Strategies: Jimmy Page | Guitar World

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Posted 04/14/2012 at 11:30am | by Tom Kolb

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Truly a guitar god, Jimmy Page is one of the

most captivating soloists the rock world has
ever known. Daring, spontaneous, melodic,
bluesy, diverse, flashy, breathtaking, and, yes,
sloppyall are adjectives befitting his singular
style.

Want to rip like Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page? We

show you how!

And while Page may occasionally crash and

burn, the next moment he's sure to be soaring
to unprecedented heights. Let's check out
some of his most electrifying licks.
The Licks

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Fig.1A contains the basic blues phrase that

Page used to launch many a killer lick. You'd
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be hard-pressed to find an early Zeppelin
rockerGood Times Bad Times,
Communication Breakdown, Dazed and
Confused, Whole Lotta Love, The Lemon
Song, and Moby Dick, to name a handful
that doesn't feature this move in one permutation or another. Practice the phrase with various
picking strategies, including raking (all downstrokes), a down-down-up pattern, and hybrid picking
(pick and fingers). Fig. 1B features a 16th-note variation on the same lick; note the rhythmic

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displacement herethe accents now fall on shifting parts of the measure, rather than always on
the downbeat. Page uses this approach in the opening measures of his solo on Good Times Bad
Times (from Led Zeppelin). Fig.1C reverts to a triplet feel and adds 2nd-string pull-offs; this
phrase recalls the one Page cycles in the double-time section of Dazed and Confused (Led
Zeppelin).

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Throughout Page's diverse solos, there is one common thread: thematic repetition. While some
themes appear as extended melodic phrases (as in the opening bars of Black Dog, Over the

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Hills and Far Away, and Achilles Last Stand), many come in the form of cycled adjacent-string

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Soloing Strategies: Jimmy Page | Guitar World

licks carved from major (12356) and minor (1f34 5f7) pentatonic scales. Fig. 2A is an E
minor pentatonicbased (EGABD) sextuplet figure played on the top string pair. Perhaps the
most famous example of this lick comes at the end of the Stairway to Heaven solo (Led Zeppelin
IV, a.k.a. ZOSO).
Consistent picking direction is the key for getting this one up to speed (try up-down or downdown). Fig. 2B mixes triplets with straight 16ths in a hammer-on/pull-off flurry of E minor
pentatonic notes. Fig.2C mixes A major (ABC#EF#) and A minor (ACDEG) pentatonics
in the same pattern Page uses to cap his solo on Heartbreaker (Led Zeppelin II). Fig. 2D is pure
A minor pentatonic. Listen for this one in the stop-time section of Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin
IV). Picking down-down here should make for the best outcome.

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Page's lines are also peppered with scale sequences. Fig. 3A is a pull-off-fueled, groups-of-three
sequence that cascades down the E minor pentatonic scale in 12th position. Page fires off a
similar line in the outro solo of Good Times Bad Times (Led Zeppelin). Fig. 3B is a six-note

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sequence that travels up the neck via the A minor pentatonic scale. This one's a bit trickier, as it
employs hammer-ons, pulloffs, and slides. Work through both examples slowly, gradually

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Page employs plenty of string bending in his solos. Fig. 4A demonstrates unison bends, as heard

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at the end of Stairway to Heaven. For the first two dyads, keep your 1st finger fixed on the 1st
string; and, with your 4th finger, bend the 2nd string to match the pitch of the 1st string. Use your
3rd finger for the 3rd-string bends. Fig. 4B shows Page's superhuman over-bends (The Lemon

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Song and Whole Lotta Love [Led Zeppelin II]). Such bends take some muscle, so give the string

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a good yank-just don't hurt yourself.

Fig. 4C shows Page's pedal steel-influenced bends as heard in Over the Hills and Far Away
(Houses of the Holy) and All My Love (In Through the Out Door). Keep your 4th finger fixed on

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the 1st string while you bend the 2nd string with your 3rd finger. Fig. 4D is an example of Page's
behind-the-nut bends in Heartbreaker. As you hammer on and pull off the notes with your fret
hand, reach behind the nut and push down on the 3rd string with your pickhand fingers.

Page also shows a penchant for pulling off to open strings. Fig.5A features A minor pentatonic-

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Soloing Strategies: Jimmy Page | Guitar World

derived pull-offs similar to the ones in Heartbreaker. Fig. 5B is a sequenced minor-pentatonicpull-off-fest that he used in Whole Lotta Love.

Although he was a flashy soloist, Page could turn a slow-blues phrase like no other. Fig.6A is
inspired by his opening lick in Since I've Been Loving You (Led Zeppelin III). Fig. 6B speeds
things up a bit with an E blues scale (add major 7th) (EGABbBDD#) line like the one in

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The Solo
The 20-bar, riff-driven solo [Fig.7] is based largely on an A5 chord. The only change occurs in
measures 13-16, where C Lydian harmonies (Dadd4/C and C) modulate to E Mixolydian chords
(D/E and E5). The feel is hard rock with a funk undercurrent.

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The solo opens with the lead guitar mirroring the main riff-an open-position A5 chord vamp
interspersed with G and C notes. This continues for several measures before segueing to an open
string-fueled A Dorian (ABCDEF#G) lick inspired by the opening riff of Over the Hills and
Far Away. At measure 5, the solo begins in earnest with a gradual 3rd-string bend that spans two
and a half steps (five frets!). If your guitar is sporting heavy strings, you may want to opt for a
whole-step bend, from B to C#. Next comes a squirrelly A blues (ACDEbEG) lick that leans
heavily on the f5th (Eb). This is followed by a pair of quirky oblique bends: the first is a half-step
bend from F# to G, which results in a major 2nd (GA) rub between the 2nd and 1st strings; the
second is similar, but the rub is even closer this time, with the bend producing a minor 2nd (F#G)
between the top string pair. For both moves, make sure you let the two notes ring together
through the release of each bend.
Measures 811 provide rhythmic and melodic space with a sequence of quarternote unison bends
culled from the A minor pentatonic scale. The rapid-fire phrase in measure 12 is inspired by the
opening licks from the Whole Lotta Love solo. Fueled by pull-offs and slides down the 3rd string,
it begins with the A blues scale (pickup notes), segues to A Dorian, and culminates in A minor
pentatonic notes. Put the phrase together bit by bit and you'll begin to understand the sequential
patterns at work.
The Dadd4/CC changes in measures 1314 call to mind the unique harmonies of songs like
Dancing Days and The Ocean. Here, the lead guitar plays a pair of melodic motifs drawn from
the C Lydian mode (CDEF#GAB) and decorated with 3rdstring bends and slides. Measure
15 brings D/EE5 chord changes, and the melodic motif reaches its conclusion on the 4th string
with a bend-and-release move (F#GF#) resolving to E. What follows is sort of a backwards
version of the pull-off licks in Whole Lotta Love. View this as an open-position E blues-scale
pattern that segues to a 3rdposition E minor pentatonic line, which in turn yields to A major
pentatonic notes around 5th position.
Measure 17 marks the return of the main riff with a bluesy, stuttering series of prebent C notes in a
triplet rhythm. Measure 18 contains a gradual whole-step bend from C to D, and the solo goes out
with a couple of classic phrases lifted from Communication Breakdown and Stairway to Heaven.

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Comments

+ Add a Comment

pearlj10
April 17, 2012 at 3:17pm

These are great!! Can you guys add an audio file or do a video so I can be sure I'm playing it right.
Thanks.

floodone
April 14, 2012 at 8:36pm

I am glad that you guys sent me this email. This will help with the solo that I need for learning the
blues at the guitar school. I have only this week to practice these lessons. Jimmy Page is one of
the greatest guitar players that I gotten the pleasure to meet in person, six years ago.
Sincerely,
Flood

gibsonlover69
October 06, 2008 at 5:11pm

jimmy page rocks my socks! Sweet lessons

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